A number of motor driven graters are known. Typically these fall into three main categories, including, reciprocating, disc and cylinder. In the cylinder type, a strip of metal having raised open perforations is formed into a cylinder with the teeth facing radially outwards. When the cylinder is turned by a motor, the teeth can grate pieces or strips of cheese from a block brought into contact with the cylinder, with the grated pieces usually falling through an opening of one end of the cylinder. Usually there is a lever mounted over hopper which the user uses to press the material being grated against the turning cylinder. The quality of the grated food depends upon the pressure on the lever, and the speed of turning of the cylinder.
The disc type of grater uses a disc of metal with similar raised perforations and openings to form teeth. When turned by a motor, the disc again grates cheese when it is brought into contact with the teeth.
The reciprocating type grater substitutes a linear reciprocating motion for the rotary motion of the other types of grater. Cheese held against the teeth grates cheese in a manner similar to using a manual cheese grater, although most motorized versions utilize a moving grating platform, and most manual versions utilize a structure for moving the cheese.
For most graters, regardless of version, it is impractical to offer a cover to allow storage of grated material within a refrigerator. Also for most graters, a user applied manual force is required to maintain the contact between the object to be grated and the grating surface. This has several disadvantages. First, different users will apply different levels of force against the object to be grated. The result will be a different quality grated product. Second, and even more importantly, the user's hands and attention are both required in the grating operation. Most high quality and culinary presentation grating operations involve positioning the grater over the plate so that the grated material falls gently into an inviting pattern atop other foods. A hand operated crank grater requires the user to press the food to be grated while simultaneously pressing the food to be grated against the grating surface, all while positioning the device over food located on a plate and also while trying to steady the exit port of the grater in the correct way over the food on the plate. A weak or unsteady user may inadvertently spill the food off the plate.
Even in the case of a motorized grater, the user is typically required to press the feed lever to urge the material being grated against the grating surface, and hold the actuation button with the other hand, resulting in a two handed operation. Again, the quality of grated product is likely to have an uneven quality depending upon who is operating the grater. In addition, the operator essentially has no free hand and cannot perform related tasks, such as providing a simultaneous mixing of other grated material or trying to create a food or color blend with other grated materials, or even in simply adding another ingredient.
Most grating is done by food processors which are not suitable for storage with the food being processed or grated, and are difficult to clean. Such food processors often fall into disuse directly because of the trouble involved in setup, use, and subsequent difficulty in cleaning and storing.
What is needed is a grater which is completely portable and can be operated with one hand. What is also needed is a grater which can be reliably and completely cleaned and which has a drive which is practically isolated from the material to be grated. The needed grater should be small enough and inexpensive enough that it can be used as a container set which may include long term storage of the material to be grated, and which presents simple steps for cleaning, loading of material to be grated and change of grating size.